A longitudinal population study into attitudes and behaviours in relation to cycling was needed to support Cycling Scotland and its partners to take action to enable more people to cycle. Progressive was asked to conduct research to gather data on the profile of people who cycle and to understand perceptions of and barriers to cycling across the population, particularly as a mode of transport.
It was important to reach a large representative sample of the Scottish population. We achieved this by conducting face-to-face street interviews using our national team of interviewers working across Scotland’s major towns and cities, as well as in rural areas such as the Highlands, Aberdeenshire and the Borders. Four waves of the tracking study have been conducted, with over 1,000 interviews conducted each year.
The insights from the longitudinal study have helped Cycling Scotland and its partners understand the key characteristics of people who cycle, both leisure and transport cyclists, as well as general attitudes towards cycling and how these are changing over time. We have also developed a segmentation model that identifies different groups within the population defined by attitudes and behaviours. The findings of the research have been widely shared, including at conferences and with other transport agencies.
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